Less than a week…

We’re under seven days until I take Financial.  Four more study days after today, to be exact.  I don’t think I’m ready, but I will have to be by Thursday night.

My exam is Friday morning either at 8 or 8:30 in Birmingham.  I might need to look up what time it is exactly and how long the appointment is since I have to meet a few people immediately after the exam before going home to hold down the fort in Florence.  After this weekend, who knows what’s going to be going on there (This needs a whole post in itself).

I also need to remember to print out my NTS (notice to schedule) and get my passport and other “approved” forms of identification so they don’t kick me out before I even get the chance to take the test.  I better make sure my car GPS knows where it’s going too since it’s never been to Uncle Mark’s house or to the testing center.  I might need my old faithful portable GPS for backup!

Emma is looking at me like she’s reminding me that I have things to do besides blog.  She says that if I don’t have time to play with her, then I certainly don’t have time for anything else besides Becker.  She’s not the only one who’s looking forward to next Saturday! :)

Wonderful Night

Even though he will never see this, I want to extend my congratulations to Senator-Elect Brown!  This is a great day (night) for America!

Study Study

Becker is quickly taking over my entire life.  I am over half done with the lectures for my first exam.  I am not quite as far with my homework though.  I have quite a bit of reading to do tonight.  My new plan is to read one section in my book and then do those multiple choice questions so I have breaks instead of reading all the material and then doing all the questions.  It gets quite monotonous and I get the feeling that I will never finish sometimes.  Other times, I feel like the test is tomorrow and I haven’t even begun to crack the surface of what needs to be reviewed.

Oh, well.  I am going to try to do as much as I can of F5 tonight and then do my reading for class tomorrow when I barely have any time left.  Knowing that I have to leave in an hour should be enough incentive to read Appendix A of FAS 147…or something like that. 

Until next time when I continue to entertain you with stories of Becker…

Not much to report

Normally today would be the end of my week, but my work schedule has changed and I am now working Fridays as well, so I feel a little disjointed.  I was walking up the stairs earlier when I realized that, had things not changed on Monday, I would have been on my way home for the weekend.  I’m so sorry I’m not going to see my Grandparents this weekend, but I couldn’t do much since I am getting my tuition paid by working.

I got home about an hour ago, took Emma outside and ate dinner.  I’ve relaxed and caught up on my regular websites for a few minutes.  Now it’s time to hit the books.  Becker is like a little person sitting on my shoulder telling me what to do.  Very much like on TV when a person is shown with an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other.  The angel is saying time to work on MC, simulations and reading while the devil is saying play with Emma, watch Project Runway and sleep.  I know who’s going to win, at least for the next four months! 

Well, Mom and Dad are coming sometime this weekend to make up for my not getting to come home.  Maybe I will get out my camera while they are here.  I only took one frame over Christmas and I haven’t picked it up since.  Maybe Emma will be in the mood to pose after she gets a bath this weekend? :)

Thoughts on traveling outside the country…

The biggest thing that shocked me was how lax the airports were outside of the United States…well, in Chile at least.

Upon our arrival at the airport to fly to Atlanta, I threw away two full bottles of water I had accumulated over the trip, but simply couldn’t drink.  (I think I drank four bottles not including meals that day to rehydrate before the flight!)  I knew that shortly after checking-in I would go through security and have to discard liquids that did not fit the three-ounce in a ziploc bag rule. 

Well, we got to security and I was in for a rude awakening.  While waiting in line, I automatically removed my shoes and jacket and took my liquids bag out of my carry-on bag.  I proceeded to go through security barefoot and jacket-less like usual and didn’t think too much of it.  However, while waiting for a friend on the other side, I noticed everyone was wearing shoes except for me and other people that were obviously American—namely our group.   This concerned me.

Later, when our group was together again, I overheard a classmate talking about being told specifically not to take shoes off and liquids out of their bag.  They were told, “We don’t do that here.”  He even mentioned that he saw someone drinking water while going through the metal detector.  This elevated my level of concern.

I thought surely there would be another level of screening for passengers bound for the United States.  Well, there was, but it didn’t help to ease my concerns.  After we had our tickets scanned in and you usually go down the jetway to the plane, we waited in another line.  This time, our bags were physically searched, but not very extensively.  My makeup bag was opened and the person peered into it and a gift wrapped in a brown paper bag was ripped open.  That was the extent of my search.

I just wanted to go home and I was determined to sleep, so as soon as I got on the plane on went my sleep mask and I tried not to think of my earlier experiences.

Once we arrived in Atlanta, we immediately went to Customs where we waited for what seemed like forever.  I had no idea so many people arrived in Atlanta between 5-6 AM.  Once we left customs, we retrieved our checked luggage and then surrendered it again for additional screening.  We were also screened again—getting the no shoe no liquids over 3oz search we should have gotten in Santiago.  I had to think this was too little too late and was really pointless if something bad was going to happen.

This caused the events of Christmas Day to really not be a surprise to me.  I guess I was thinking with my rose colored glasses on because I just assumed that the travel regulations we are familiar with in the United States applied to the world, not just our country.  I was sorely mistaken and I will be reminded of this next time I decide to fly.

Where is MY snow?

Big disappointment down here…no snow.  It’s always my luck that it snows wherever I am not.  Since I’m not in Florence, it snows there.  Since I am in Auburn, nothing more than sleet.  I am grateful that we are not facing an ice storm and that people coming back for the new semester this weekend should have safe travels, but I really would have liked a flake or two.

Even though there is no snow, it’s plenty cold here.  I went to the grocery yesterday and stocked up since I haven’t been here for a month, so Emma and I have only ventured out for bathroom breaks for Miss E.  I bought cold weather food…or at least my version of it.  I don’t eat stews and chili, so paninis and baked potatoes will have to do…not together!  That reminds me, I’ve had it for a year or so, but thanks Mom and Dad for my grill pan.  It makes the best paninis!

Becker is moving slowly forward.  I’ve still got lots of homework problems and simulations to complete, but I’ll somehow get it done before Monday.  I know motivation and panic will set in once my regular classes start and a daily routine will certainly not hurt things.  Somehow I always get everything done and this will be no exception!

Time to cook! :)

It’s Been A While

I’m back.  At least intermittently. 

I’m back to blogging and back to Auburn.  It’s just so hard for me to blog at home since I often don’t even turn on my computer for days at a time.

On Monday, my Mac class and I started a journey.  A journey to become CPAs.  We are all enrolled in the Becker CPA Review and have met twice so far.  Each session is for four hours and I can honestly say I am wiped out when I walk out of the BB at the end of a lecture.

We have seven more sessions (3.5 weeks) before our first exam…Financial.  It’s going to be a long and bumpy ride, but hopefully at the end I will have everything except the experience requirement behind me before starting work.  Considering many of my colleagues at my Internship were still studying while working, I can say with complete certainty that having this behind me will relieve a huge burden from my shoulders when I finally get a job.

Speaking of jobs, if any of my readers know of any Accounting firms that are hiring in Birmingham, Huntsville or Nashville, I would love you forever if you would put me in contact with them.  The job search is not going well.  I have emailed many firms in Huntsville, but have yet to even get a “We’re not hiring now” email.

Ok, I better go.  As we have been told many times, if we are having fun over the next five months, we are doing something wrong.  Time to hit the books for the night!

And a final note: Hook ‘em Horns!!